<\/p>\n
For decades, Phil Ehart <\/strong>has been the stabilizing force in the band Kansas<\/strong>.<\/p>\n A co-founder and the band\u2019s manager, he\u2019s as engrained in the progressive rock outfit as \u201cDust in the Wind<\/a><\/strong>\u201d is in our collective memory. But it\u2019s taken more than 50 years to really learn about the man behind the drum kit.<\/p>\n \ud83c\udfac <\/strong>SIGN UP for Parade\u2019s Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox<\/strong><\/a> \ud83c\udfac\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Released this year, I Am Phil<\/strong> explores Ehart\u2019s life in full, from his family and faith, to his 50 years touring the world with one of the greatest rock bands of all time. And like every brilliant memoir, it\u2019s full of revelations, with visceral stories of The Doors<\/strong>, Janis Joplin<\/strong>, and Jerry Garcia<\/strong> filling the pages. The most shocking, however, might be Ehart\u2019s brush with death in February 2024<\/strong>.<\/p>\n In an interview with Ultimate Classic Rock<\/a><\/strong>, the drummer shared that writing about his health scare was particularly difficult for his wife, Laurie<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cI almost died right in front of her,\u201d he shared. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t anything we expected. It wasn\u2019t like I was showing any symptoms. I\u2019d always been in such good shape, I\u2019d played my drums earlier that day, had exercised by walking the golf course, and the band had been playing 50th Anniversary Tour shows two days before.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that he hadn\u2019t experienced any chest pains, but \u201cwhen I felt like I\u2019d been shot in the back and my back muscles and shoulder hurt, luckily, Laurie called the ambulance immediately. \u2026 I was fortunate to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n Beyond the health revelation, Ehart shared that the early incarnation of Kansas was part of The Doors\u2019 final concert<\/strong>, Janis Joplin<\/strong> told him to never give up<\/strong>, and an encounter with Jerry Garcia<\/strong> was recounted in The Grateful Dead\u2019s \u201cTruckin\u2019.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n When asked what prompted him to share his story now, Ehart said the driving force was a desire to leave a record of his life for his children, which ultimately pushed him to begin writing.<\/p>\n “Being on the road, playing in the band, and managing the band, I never had the time to sit down and look back on my life,” he said. “In doing this, I realized it can be difficult to reflect on one\u2019s life, especially when you are starting from the beginning.”<\/p>\n Per the outlet, Ehart\u2019s memoir is \u201cthe kind of insider\u2019s account that will be illuminating for fans, and for any wayward sons (and daughters) who have carried on with Kansas for its 50-plus years.\u201d<\/p>\n I Am Phil<\/strong> is available at philehart.net<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Related: \u201970s Folk Rock Legend Stuns With Moving Performance of 1966 Timeless Ode to Home<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n This story was originally published by Parade<\/a> on Jun 12, 2026, where it first appeared in the News<\/a> section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For decades, Phil Ehart has been the stabilizing force in the band Kansas. A co-founder and the band\u2019s manager, he\u2019s as engrained in the progressive rock outfit as \u201cDust in the Wind\u201d is in our collective memory. But it\u2019s taken more than 50 years to really learn about the man behind the drum kit. \ud83c\udfac […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2455865,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[482718,482717,343913,330442,22304,384978,362712],"class_list":["post-2455864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-collective-memory","tag-dust-in-the-wind","tag-janis-joplin","tag-jerry-garcia","tag-kansas","tag-phil-ehart","tag-progressive-rock"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Phil-Ehart-of-Kansas-Shares-Life-Saving-Health-Scare-in-New.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2455864"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2455866,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455864\/revisions\/2455866"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2455865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2455864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2455864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2455864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}